Florida’s unemployment rate reaches 10.2%

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: South Florida Business Journal

The seasonally adjusted rate for May is 10.2 percent. That translates to 943,000 unemployed out of a labor force of 9.2 million, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate is 9.4 percent.

The state’s unemployment rate is up 4.4 percentage points from the same period a year ago. The last time the rate was higher was October 1975, when it was 11 percent.

Since May 2008, 417,500 nonagricultural jobs have been lost. The Miami/Fort Lauderale area was among the metro areas with the largest job losses in the last year, down 101,800 jobs.

Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/06/15/daily69.html

[RebelOne]

1. Yes, and my daughter's husband has just joined the unemployed ranks

in Florida. He is an electrician and worked mainly in construction of new homes. But there aren't any new homes being built now.

[imdjh]

2. Living on a fixed income doesn't seem so bad now.

I'm not being flippant. I'm thinking that some places are especially hard hit. They name South Florida (Southeast florida) as being especially hard hit, but I would suspect that the interior and north Florida are especially hard hit because they don't have as much fixed-income residents and snowbirds pumping cash into the bottom of the economy.

Around here, we see some problems. But the people standing on the corners with signs are still the usual suspects, not people who are truly looking for work. I also haven't seen a new crop of prostitutes working the streets. Again, I'm not being flippant, I look to these places for signs of desperation. I also don't have men knocking on my door when my grass gets a little tall, or going door to door asking for work- and I have seen that in the past.

So my point is, that if the overall is 9%, then in some places it must be double that.

[stubtoe]

3. It's over 12% in Oregon.

People keep moving here, so it must be a good place to be out of work.

[kdmorris]

11. Southeast Florida has been very badly hit

But I, like you, find it hard to believe that others in the interior/North are not also hit hard. Only thing I can think is that there used to be more of an economy here, so we had further to fall than areas like North Florida where there wasn't as much of an economy.

Every strip mall in my area has a least one empty store in it. It's bad here. Really bad.

[joeybee12]

4. Crist has done such a good job no wonder he needs to be elected to the Senate!

Are you people brain-dead in Florida? Why is that old queen ahead in the polls?

[peace frog]

5. Not all Floridians are brain dead, but

there are enough who vote that keep incompetent idiots like Crist in power. Hell, that borderline pedophile Foley will probably be re-elected.

[joeybee12]

6. You're right...plenty of wonderful people in Florida...

...but a guy who does such a lousy job should not be rewarded with a promotion...that's essentailly Condo-liar Rice-esque.

[peace frog]

7. Unless the FL Dems are hiding one helluva dark horse

candidate (yeah riiiiight), Crist will run away with it. It's a bitter pill, but we in the Sunshine State have grown used to being forced to swallow it.

[Bankhead_ATL]

8. And I can deal with Crist over Jeb any day

[peace frog]

9. Crist is a slight improvement

over Jeb, but that ain't saying much. I'm betting Crist will become a meek little lap dog for the stronger Repukes in Senate, which bodes ill for Florida and the nation.

[Dappleganger]

10. Still out of permanent work here in NE FL

Dh has had not just one but TWO offers yanked at the last minute. He is doing a 3 month contract job at less than 70% of what we had coming in January, not to mention having to pay for COBRA, life insurance, disability, etc. I am filling out 15-20 applications the past few weeks with nothing. Our 17 yr. old cannot get a job at fast food. Only the 16 yr. old has had his hours increased at Publix. The bottom has pretty much fallen out in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry all across the US (we have been willing to relocate from the very beginning).

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. higher in California

[midnight armadillo]

13. Isn't the FL economy built on new homes & tourism?

I can't say that I've ever heard of much else aside from the citrus crop being part of the FL economy.